


ripples

by spoke



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, in which also bard and thranduil are both smartasses, in which i consider more real-world implications of a throwaway line that freaked me out a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 20:43:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5980459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/pseuds/spoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aaand let's just. Leave Bard kind of sputtering at the dock shall we? Yes lets.</p>
<p>IDK, I have wondered about elves and keeping tabs on other royal lines/leaderships since Legolas <i>knew who Bolg was.</i> What the f, why does he <i>know</i> this, they are elves and orcs when are they having conversations about their respective lineages?! I can understand the orcs knowing who Legolas is, elves are around forever unless someone kills them, and they'd probably love to off the heir of a major elven realm, but. </p>
<p>'Bolg, spawn of Azog the defiler'. Like his ada made him discuss this and thus think about the fact that orcs too have sex. :P </p>
<p>I'm sorry this subject is just infinitely amusing to me.</p></blockquote>





	ripples

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Penknife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penknife/gifts).



They’d first met when Bard took over the position as bargeman. Not what you expect to see when showing up to collect empty barrels as the mouth of the river, a great pale elf standing there looking like he’d stepped out of a tapestry. He’d watched the elf with some skepticism as he tied off the barge, but he didn’t speak and Bard had a job to do, so. 

Still, it was a bit weird and creepy. He knew his history. From his own family’s old stories to general lore, the local elf royalty wasn’t - they were some foreign type that had come over the mountains to the west, so long ago maybe only elves would remember when. And they were all of them supposed to have yellow hair like Rohan’s people, the lighter the better apparently. So the bloody statue watching him, with the hair that looked nearly while in sunlight? That was rank, and Bard wasn’t going to say anything until he spoke and gave some idea the kind of person he was dealing with. 

Except he didn’t speak. Not that trip, nor the next time he showed up. It wasn’t until the elf’s fourth visit and he’d long since lost track of his own trips that Bard finally heard his voice. “All this time and nothing to say, _bargeman?_ ” 

The depth of the voice was somehow surprising, but it was the note of contempt on the last word that really got Bard’s attention. He stopped loading the barrels completely and stared hard into the elf’s eyes. There was contempt there, yes, but also a note of amusement? Well, bloody immortals, they have to amuse themselves somehow. 

“How much do I look like Girion?” he asked, and continued before the elf could reply, “Or is it just you’ve got some hobby of keeping track of human royalty? It is like breeding horses I wonder, only without control over the outcome.” After all, if he wanted to be rude he could deal with it in turn.

The expression on his face might almost have been worth possibly losing his job if it weren’t for the kids. It was like watching the currents from the river spread out and calm in the lake; mild shock and disapproval mellowing into amusement. “While the resemblance is remarkable, as these things go, I would say your second guess is closer. Not as a ‘hobby’ but as a prudent measure. Only a fool would not know the rulers of neighboring lands.”

When he shook his head, muttering that he was no ruler, the elf smiled. It was a smile that made Bard think of laughter, and suspect that this was as close as the elf might get to that in public, and the tilt of his head that followed felt as if he’d shaken his in turn. “The current situation is temporary, heir of Girion. Men do not see how changeable your own lives are; if something endures for _one generation_ then you think it has always been so. In time your current _situation_ will pass, and another will arise.” His eyes turned to the barrels and the barge with a greater degree of contempt than had been shown his profession. It gave Bard a feeling that ‘situation’ meant the Master and not how he made his living. 

He drew himself up somehow, this elf, without actually moving, and Bard knew the conversation was over. For however much of one it had been. “One thing my hobby has shown me, Bard the bargeman; the quality of Girion’s line holds.” 

He laughed ruefully as the elf turned, and called after him, “And may the heir of Girion know the name of the elf passing judgment on his personal quality?”

The laughter was back in his eyes as he looked over his shoulder. “Thranduil. Although ‘my lord’ would be more appropriate, unless you should end up with a crown of your own.”

**Author's Note:**

> Aaand let's just. Leave Bard kind of sputtering at the dock shall we? Yes lets.
> 
> IDK, I have wondered about elves and keeping tabs on other royal lines/leaderships since Legolas _knew who Bolg was._ What the f, why does he _know_ this, they are elves and orcs when are they having conversations about their respective lineages?! I can understand the orcs knowing who Legolas is, elves are around forever unless someone kills them, and they'd probably love to off the heir of a major elven realm, but. 
> 
> 'Bolg, spawn of Azog the defiler'. Like his ada made him discuss this and thus think about the fact that orcs too have sex. :P 
> 
> I'm sorry this subject is just infinitely amusing to me.


End file.
